Heather: DONE!

March 12, 2010

Finally done with classes! The Swahili exam went pretty well yesterday. After that we had our last class-tracks. We talked about wildlife conservation and tourism. Did you know that Kenya has 55 national parks and reserves? I’ve only been to 4, but intend to go to a couple more in Mombasa, Tsavo included.

After class we went to grab some lunch at Prestige. There is no such thing here as substitutions or asking for a sandwich or something without sauce or something on it. And I am the queen of this. So basically I never get what I want for lunch. Yesterday our waiter guy did not care about us at all, and he screwed up our order on multiple counts, and overcharged us. Normally the waiters wait around for you to pay them right away. Ours walked away for one second so we paid what we should have been charged, and walked out. We told him we weren’t going to pay for stuff that we didn’t order. Ugh. It’s really frustrating because in America, the customer is always right. But here, they don’t care what you want.

Anyways, we went to Adams market after lunch and went on a shopping spree for Mombasa. And when I say spree, I mean spending Ksh1000 ($14). But I got a lot for that: 2 shirts, a tank top, a dress, and 2 scarves. I was a master bargainer. We went to Toi market as well because I’ve never been there. It is a LOT cheaper. But it’s a lot more work to find something that you like because everything is just thrown on the tables rather than hanging up or layed out. So we didn’t like it there very much.

Five of us went to Stosh’s place to hang out or a bit after the market. We met a reporter for a news channel, KTN. He was pretty nice, but he said working for the news channels is crap work. We took a taxi home and mama had a feast for dinner for us. Delicious. Ever since I mentioned that I like fruit, I get bombarded with it! They don’t let me leave until I have finished all the fruit on the plate! And normally its 2 oranges and an apple along with my entire meal. But it is GOOD fruit! And they make the best fried potatoes.

My time here is going so quickly. I can’t believe I’m already moving to my internship on Sunday! It does seem like we’ve been here for a long time, but it’s been pretty non-stop. But still fun. Our bus leaves on Sunday at 10 a.m., and I think we’ll get into Mombasa around 5 p.m.